Ladybug:The First Miraculous
by fantasysrealist
Summary: Before Ladybug was Ladybug, she was just an ordinary girl named Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a clumsy, tiny girl who was doing just fine until her best friend went to war without her. In trying to follow her and fight in the war, she submits herself for experimentation. But someone close to her heart makes it there before her. After all, curiosity did kill the cat...(Captain America AU)
1. Chapter 1

One of Mylene Haprele's thick, fur-lined boots landed with a crunch in the thick, heavy snow of the Arctic Circle. Another followed, sinking more than a foot, which she thought was slightly excessive. The snow blew thick and heavy in front of her face as she and her partner slowly and carefully made their way across the frozen ground.

Next to her, Ivan muttered through chattering teeth, something about "why the hell did it have to be us who came up to this goddamn hell icicle". Mylene silently agreed. He nudged her. "Look."

A bright green flag waved over the top of the next hill, and both Ivan and Mylene sighed in relief. They went back to their climbing, but with a little spring in their step that no one could say had been there before.

Someone was waiting for them as they crested the hill. A woman, actually, though you could barely tell from the ridiculously huge hood she and everyone else was wearing. Her voice was bright and high, even as she was shouthing through the freezing wind. "Are you Mylene Haprele and Ivan Bruel, from the capitol?" Ivan shouted a yes, and she made a motion to signal 'follow me'.

As they started to move, the woman began talking. "I'm Aurore Boreale, and I'm pretty sure I know what you're thinking."

Ivan looked over at her. "Well, I don't care what you think that I think, I want to know what's so special that we have to fly up to the goddamn top of the world."

Aurore laughed, a bell sound that Mylene could barely hear. "I thought you'd say that!" Ivan huffed and rolled his eyes. Mylene piped up.

"Sorry, but why _did_ you call us up here? I mean, couldn't you have just gotten a crane?" Mylene saw Aurore's patronizing smile out of the corner of her eye, which irritated her.

"Oh, ma'am, I'm sorry, but I don't think you really understand. What I mean is that you'd need an awfully big crane!"

Just then, a shadow fell over them. Mylene looked up to see...something. Something big. She slowly moved back as Aurore's words dawned on her.

It was an airship. A helicarrier. And it was still whole.

Mylene waited nervously inside with Aurore as people rushed around them, calling out names and places and all sorts of numbers. The other woman was chatting away as Mylene held a mug of steaming hot chocolate. She was trying to listen, honestly, but she couldn't help worrying about-

The door banged open and all chatter stopped. Even Aurore was shocked silent as Ivan burst through, more excited than she'd ever seen him. He ran over, still covered in snow as he spoke. "Mylene. I got the door open. Come quickly."

Within a few minutes, the clamor of voices had reawoken, and the only sign that something had happened was the extra mug of hot chocolate on the table near Aurore Boreale.

Ivan's eyes were wide as he and Mylene stepped into the helicarrier. His voice rang out in the quiet. "How do you think this got here?" Mylene shrugged. Something flashed in the light of her flashlight beam as she walked over, footsteps echoing. As she picked up the shiny thing, something gave way beneath her fingers. Panicking, she brought the golden thing closer to her face to try to see what went wrong. She could see her sigh of relief in the air as she realized that it was a locket, but her blood chilled at the faces inside it.

"Ivan!" The burly man ran over faster than she thought he could. At the sight of the pictures, though, he froze.

"No. Fucking. Way." He looked at her with doubt in his eyes, but her urge to find out what _this_ was was growing stronger by the second. She turned around, walking around the cabin.

Mylene could practically feel the history of this place. She could tell that it was old. But, god, what had happened here? Maybe...no. It couldn't be.

The flashlight beam passed over more ice, but this time...this time the ice seemed to have...god, it seemed to have color behind it. She whispered Ivan's name, and as he saw her discovery, he grinned and pushed her forward. "Go ahead."

Mylene stepped forwards. Her legs must have gotten much colder, because they wouldn't stop shaking. She raised a gloved hand...and wiped off the seventy-five year old frost.

"Hey, Aurore?"

"Mylene, it's almost midnight. It's negative thirty degrees out. What do you want?"

"You're going to want to see this."

It was hard to see, but under four inches of solid ice, there was a silver staff…

and a red and black yoyo.


	2. Chapter 2

_Eins…_

 _Zwei…_

 _Drei…_

 _Los!_

The keeper of the castle slammed his shoulder, and the hatch above him creaked open. He waved his hand in front of his face to disperse the dust that was already settling on his coat. As he took the final steps on the ladder, his eyes darted around the attic. It had been closed for as long as he had held the title of keeper of the castle.

There were a fair number of rumors about the castle, and even more about the attic. The people of the village had to look up to see it, up on the mountain, and past the cemetery. He knew they whispered as they passed by. About the way the castle seemed to frown on the darkest days, and how its stones were from far, far away. How the attic should only be opened when the castle told them to, when the castle despaired for its life.

It had been hundreds of years since anyone had been up in the attic, but the floorboards were still fresh as the day they were made. Somehow, it didn't smell musty. He felt silly, flighty, for admitting it, but he thought that he could feel the magic in the air. But this was a serious time, and he shoved away his smile for another, lighter day.

The keeper of the castle knew where he would find it. Of course he did. That was his job. Take care of the castle, but most of all, keep it safe. Never let anyone else touch it, let alone take it. He rushed over to the table in the middle and began to speak. He told the table what had been passed down, from keeper to keeper, for centuries.

"Nooroo, this is a code red, 6270, you are not to let anyone-" He was cut off as the roof exploded. The keeper ducked behind the table; stones from the attic walls flew every which way. The dust cloud that had appeared began to dissipate to reveal the nose of a one-man plane. The man sitting in the pilot's seat hopped out, clearly and deliberately, and stood next to his plane. As he popped his glasses off and threw them behind him, the castle keeper let out a small gasp as he peeked over the edge. The face of the poorly-parked pilot was one that he'd seen on many wanted posters. It was the face of Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth had a reputation, you see. He took magic, exploited it to his own good, and called it his own ingenuity. He experimented and stole and laughed over blood. And at the moment, he was looking in the direction of the little gasp that he had heard.

"To whoever's guarding this place, I'd like to applaud you. It's taken me years to find this place." Hawkmoth's voice was surprisingly normal-sounding, thought the castle keeper. It sounded like someone you'd hear on the street, talking to a sweetheart, or calling out orders at a supermarket. He was moving around, and the keeper stiffened as the voice started to mosey on around the right side of the table. "I know you're here, you know." The keeper began to move, slowly and carefully, towards the right corner of the table. He peeked around and saw...nothing.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned back around, only to scream. Hawkmoth was sitting on his other side, you see, so close the keeper could feel his breath.

"In fact," the villain whispered, "I know where 'here' is, too."

Footsteps. They pounded on the stairs, one after another, so in time that it seemed like there was only one. The soldiers burst through the door; they just kept on coming.

Hawkmoth spoke. "Hold him." He pointed to the keeper of the castle, sitting helplessly on the floor. He didn't even have time to protest before he was unable to move, held by four men. "You know, we're not much different, the two of us." He drawled out his words as the keeper shook his head, his eyes still fierce and defiant. "A-a-ah," he chastised him carefully, patronizingly, which somehow stung more than if he had yelled. It made the castle keeper feel like a little kid who had drawn on the wall. "Yes we are. Don't go denying things before I make my case." The keeper looked away purposefully, head down. "Hey." Hawkmoth murmured, leaning forward and stretching a hand out. He lifted the keeper's chin with a single finger.

The castle keeper was suddenly struck by how brutally cold Hawkmoth's hand was, even through a pair of gloves. The villain continued.

"Listen," he said with a smile and welcoming eyes. "We're both just boys with a lot to learn about magic." For the first time, his face turned dark and sinister, mouth meant for sneering. "Speaking of which, where is that damn initiative?" The keeper kept his mouth shut, staring ahead, but his jaw was clenched tight and his hands were sweating. This was the moment that he had prepared for all his life, and he was unable to do anything about it.

"I thought I asked you a question." The villain's face was only inches from his now. "Where. Is. The. Initiative!" On the last word, the keeper's head flew to the side as Hawkmoth's hand collided.

"I would rather die." The man croaked out, his first words of the night. Hawkmoth noticed too.

"So the little bird chirps after all! That's okay. We have some other people who, well, might be able to convince you." He motioned to the door. "Bring 'em in!"

The keeper of the castle thought that nothing could possibly convince him to give up the secrets of the ancient building. But he was wrong. As soldiers marched in, each carrying one of his young grandchildren, his only thought was that he should have kept them closer.

"Fine." As he spoke, the children's heads turned towards him. "Fine. I'll give it to you."

Hawkmoth's eyes lit up, and the keeper instantly regretted his decision. But with the big eyes still on him, it was hard to hold that feeling for more than a moment.

"It's in the table." The keeper swallowed his guilt and continued. "It needs my voice, though." He tugged his arm towards himself, and the men holding him instantly released their grips. He ignored Hawkmoth's greedy whispers, "Of course. It's genius.". He pulled himself up, feeling as though he was a marionette, legs being moved by strings as he walked. The wooden cross would dip as he placed his hands on the table and said the commands, enunciating clearly. He could feel the eyes on him. "Nooroo, open module. Code 11832028. Relinquish command."

With a hiss that seemed almost accusatory, the table hissed open, layer after layer, to reveal a glowing purple sphere.

He turned back to Hawkmoth, whose fingers seemed itching to hold the initiative himself. "I want to warn you. This is not meant for humans to handle. You will wither away."

The villain shrugged off the warning, quite literally. His shoulders rose and fell as he spoke. "Oh, don't worry. That happened a long time ago." He pushed past the castle keeper and scooped up the initiative. As Hawkmoth turned around, his eyes seemed to reflect the sphere in his hands as they landed on the keeper. Suddenly, he felt the strings from before on his hands and feet.

 _Nooroo Initiative: the power to control._

What had he done?


End file.
